Totenmahl reliefs in the northern provinces: A case-study in imperial sculpture

Journal of Roman Archaeology

Volumn 22, Issue 1, 2009, Pages 253-274

  Stewart, Peter ^a  

^a Courtauld Institute of Art ^*  (United Kingdom)

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EID: 77950523186     PISSN: 10477594     EISSN: 10634304     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1047759400020699     Document Type: Review

References (75)

1. Cf. M. Henig, The art of Roman Britain (London 1995) 10-11
2. For fresh inquiry note, e.g., the stimulating range of studies in S. Scott and J. Webster (edd.), Roman imperialism and provincial art (Cambridge 2003)
3. or the recent proceedings of the 7th international colloquium on problems of Roman provincial art: P. Noelke (ed.), Romanisation und Resistenz in Plastik, Architektur und Inschriften der Provinzen des Imperium Romanum (Mainz am Rhein 2003)
4. On the problem, cf. P. Noelke's foreword in Romanisation (supra n.1) ix
5. Note as an exception M. Mattern, "Die Reliefverzierten römischen Grabstelen der Provinz Britannia: Themen und Typen", KölnJb 22 (1989) 707-801 (e.g., comments at 709-11)
6. For these authors' reaction against Romano-centrism and the model of 'Romanization', see e.g., M. Aldhouse-Green, An archaeology of images: iconology and cosmology in Iron Age and Roman Europe (London 2004) especially 215-41; Scott and Webster (supra n.1)
7. Note also comments by D. J. Mattingly in id. (ed.), Dialogues in Roman imperialism (JRA Suppl. 23, 1997) especially 9-11
8. Cf. R. Hingley, Globalizing Roman culture (London 2005) especially 14-48, a critique of Romanization
9. and G. Woolf, Becoming Roman: the origins of provincial civilization in Gaul (Cambridge 1998) especially 1-23
10. Note the attempts of Hingley, as a revisionist, to address the risk of parochialism; specifically on the problem of atomizing the empire, cf. G. Woolf, id., "Recreating coherence without reinventing Romanization," in Digressus 3 (2003): 〈www.digressus.org/articles/romanizationpp111-119- hingley.pdf〉
11. For a general introduction see K. M. D. Dunbabin, The Roman banquet: images of conviviality (Cambridge 2003) especially 103-10
12. For a contemporary, but possibly idiosyncratic, explanation of the imagery, see CIL VI 25531. For the connection with funerary meals see, e.g., J.-J. Hatt, La tombe gallo-romaine (Paris 1951) 72-75
13. In general see J. Fabricius, Die hellenistischen Totenmahlreliefs (Munich 1999)
14. e siècle avant J.-C. (Rome 1982)
15. See. e.g., N. Firath, Les stèles funéraires de Byzance gréco-romaine (Paris 1964)
16. Macedonia: M. Lagogianni-Georgakarakos, CSIR Griechenland I.9 Die Grabdenkmäler mit Porträts aus Makedonien (Athens 1998) 25-26 no. 2
17. CSIR Griechenland I.9 Die Grabdenkmäler mit Porträts aus Makedonien 73-74 no. 78
18. CSIR Griechenland I.9 Die Grabdenkmäler mit Porträts aus Makedonien 78-79 no. 86
19. Moesia Inferior: M. Alexandrescu-Vianu, "Le banquet funéraire sur les stèles de la Mésie Inférieure: schémas et modèles," Dacia n.s. 21 (1977) 139-66
20. Moesia Superior: S. Conrad, Die Grabstelen aus Moesia Superior (Leipzig 2004) especially 57-60
21. Dacia: L. Bianchi, Le stele funerarie della Dacia (Rome 1985) 98-102
22. See F. Wagner, G. Gamer, and A. Rüsch, CSIR Deutschland I.1. Raetia (Bayern südlich des Limes) und Noricum (Chiemseegebiet) (Bonn 1973) 35-36 no. 67
23. CSIR Deutschland I.1. Raetia (Bayern südlich des Limes) und Noricum (Chiemseegebiet) 93-94 no. 385
24. CSIR Deutschland I.1. Raetia (Bayern südlich des Limes) und Noricum (Chiemseegebiet) 99-100 no. 423 (possibly all comparatively late)
25. Generally on these reliefs on the Rhine and beyond, see: H. Gabelmann, "Die Typen der römischen Grabstelen am Rhein," BJb 172 (1972) 69-119
26. P. Noelke, "Grabreliefs mit Mahldarstellung in den germanisch-gallischen Provinzen - soziale und religiöse Aspekte," in P. Fasold et al. (edd.), Bestattungssitte und kulturelle Identität: Grabanlagen und Grabbeigaben der frühen römischen Kaiserzeit in Italien und den Nordwest-Provinzen (Cologne 1998) 399-418
27. P. Noelke, id., "Zur Chronologie der Grabreliefs mit Mahldarstellung im römischen Germanien," in H. Walter (ed.), La sculpture d'époque romaine dans le nord, dans l'est des Gaules et dans les régions avoisinantes (Besançon 2000) 59-70
28. P. Noelke, id. with B. Kibilka and D. Kemper, "Zu den Grabreliefs mit Darstellung des convivium coniugale im römischen Germanien und im benachbarten Gallien," BJb 205 (2005) 155-241
29. See A. Schober, Die römischen Grabsteine von Noricum und Pannonien (Vienna 1923) especially 203; Bianchi (supra n.9) 103-4
30. Gabelmann (supra n.11) 117-18; G. Alföldy, Die Hilfstruppen der römischen Provinz Germania inferior (Düsseldorf 1968) 170-71
31. On connections between specific early reliefs and workshops in upper and lower Germany, see P. Noelke, "Bildhauerwerkstätten im römischen Germanien: Möglichkeiten und Grenzen ihres Nachweises," BJb 206 (2006) 120-38
32. Over 150 examples of the broadly defined type in different forms of monument from the Germanies, Gallia Belgica, and Raetia: Noelke 2005 (supra n.11) 155-56
33. M. Mattern, "Bilder römischer Reitkunst," in Noelke (supra n.1) 292-306
34. Legionary reliefs regularly lack such elaborate figured decoration. For Tuttius, see CIL XIII 8289
35. B. Galsterer and H. Galsterer, Die römischen Steininschriften aus Köln (Cologne 1975) no. 228
36. Mattern (supra n.2). E. J. Phillips, CSIR Great Britain vol. I.1. Corbridge, Hadrian's Wall east of the north Tyne (Oxford 1977)
37. S. R. Tufi, CSIR GB I.3 Yorkshire (Oxford 1983)
38. L. J. F. Keppie and B. J. Arnold, CSIR GB I.4 Scotland (Oxford 1984)
39. J. C. Coulston and E. J. Phillips, CSIR GB I.6. Hadrian's Wall west of the north Tyne, and Carlisle (Oxford 1988)
40. M. Henig, CSIR GB I.9. Roman sculpture from the north west Midlands (Oxford 2004). See Table 1 for individual pieces in these fascicules
41. R. S. O. Tomlin and M. W. C. Hassall in Britannia 36 (2005) 474-75
42. See now A. Simmonds et al., Life and death in a Roman city: excavations of a Roman cemetery with a mass grave at 120-122 London Road, Gloucester (Oxford 2008) 116-17 (by M. Henig and R. Tomlin)
43. Simmonds et al. Life and death in a Roman city: excavations of a Roman cemetery with a mass grave at 120-122 London Road, Gloucester ibid. A "Claudio-Neronian" date is maintained in the full discussion (16-17) by Henig and Tomlin, mainly on the basis of the epigraphic convention, although they do now mention the later date assigned to German stelae
44. The date may have relevance for the controversy over military presence in Gloucester. It is quite probable that the stela was set up by someone connected with the army; Martialis's name might imply as much. More importantly, the British Totenmahl reliefs are found almost exclusively in military towns or sites, hence their absence (with this one exception) from SE England, which had been vacated by the army by the time the banquet motif (in contrast to the rider reliefs) was flourishing; but that might make [...]lonius a veteran. The other stone from the London Road site commemorates another Martialis, L. Octavius Martialis, a serving soldier of legio XX (Tomlin and Hassall 2005 [supra n.26] 476-77). There is no proof that the stones are contemporary, but if they are roughly so and associated with leg. XX, then an early dating fits with the general view that this legion was at Kingsholm and Gloucester around A.D. 48-57 and 67-75, respectively. My later dating might support H. R. Hurst's claim that there was a later legionary presence: "Soldier and civilian: a debate on the bank of the Severn" in id. (ed.), The coloniae of Roman Britain: new studies and a review (JRA Suppl. 36, 1999) 186-89
45. Note, e.g., the critique by H. von Petrikovits in Gnomon 24 (1952) 473
46. RIB I 558
47. When the stela was unearthed in 1874, it was reportedly found by an intact grave containing a worn coin of Domitian: W. T. Watkins, Roman Cheshire; or, A description of Roman remains in the County of Chester (Liverpool 1886) 214-16
48. Note also Toynbee's Flavian dating on the basis of letter-style: J. M. C. Toynbee, Art in Britain under the Romans (Oxford 1964) 200
49. A Flavian/Trajanic date is proposed by R. P. Wright and I. A. Richmond, Inscribed and sculptured stones in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester (Chester 1955) 46
50. See K. Fittschen, Die Bildnistypen der Faustina Minor und die Fecunditas Augustae (Göttingen 1982) 51-53, Taf. 19-21, for the '5th type'
51. Cf. also R. Amedick, Die Sarkophage mit Darstellungen aus dem Menschenleben, IV. Vita privata (ASR I.4; Berlin 1991) 136, no. 84, Taf. 3.2 and 4.1, for a particularly good parallel in relief sculpture (a loculus slab from Ostia) dated 152-156 by comparison with Faustina
52. E. Espérandieu, Recueil général des bas-reliefs, statues, et bustes de la Gaule romaine VIII (Paris 1922) 351-52 no. 6449. On the date see, e.g., Noelke 2000 (supra n.11) 67-68
53. CSIR I.3 no. 51, the stela of Iulius Secundus(?), which Tufi (supra n.22) tentatively suggests as a possible Totenmahl, is not
54. Tufi CSIR ibid. 25-26 no. 40. Mattern (supra n.2) 793-94 no. 134
55. Tufi ibid. 62-63 no. 105; Mattern ibid. 792 no. 122. For comparable images on sarcophagi see B. C. Ewald, Der Philosoph als Leitbild: ikonographische Untersuchungen an römischen Sarkophagreliefs (Mainz 1999)
56. Phillips (supra n.22) 92; M. A. R. Colledge, The art of Palmyra (London 1976) 233 and 304 n.715
57. V. G. Swan, "The Twentieth Legion and the history of the Antonine Wall reconsidered," ProcSocAntScot 129 (1999) 437
58. Swan ," ProcSocAntScot ibid. 437-38
59. On Roman conceptions of such schemata see P. Stewart, Statues in Roman society (Oxford 2003) 236-49. For discussion in reference to Totenmahl reliefs from the Balkans, see Alexandrescu-Vianu (supra n.9) 139
60. On Roman sensitivity to style in the classical tradition see, e.g., T. Hölscher, The language of images in Roman art (Cambridge 2004)
61. The (very few) literary comments on the bad form of provincial art appear to focus on imperial portraits: Arrian, Periplus Maris Euxini 1-2
62. Fronto, Ad M. Caes. 4.12.4 (Naber p. 72). Their functional efficacy is the main issue
63. See M. P. Speidel, Die Denkmäler der Kaiserreiter (Cologne 1994)
64. M. P. Speidel, id., Riding for Caesar: the Roman emperors' horse guards (London 1994)
65. A. W. Busch, "Von der Provinz ins Zentrum - Bilder auf den Grabdenkmälern einer Elite-Einheit," in Noelke (supra n.1) 679-94 (683 for the number of examples); Speidel 1994 (supra n.68) 145
66. Busch "Von der Provinz ins Zentrum - Bilder auf den Grabdenkmälern einer Elite-Einheit ibid. 691
67. For the Mantua relief: CIL V 4466
68. H. Gabelmann, "Zur Tektonik oberitalischer Sarkophage, Altäre, Stelen," BJb 177 (1977) 244. Henig and Tomlin argue (wrongly, in my view) that the attire and attributes of the diner on Martialis's relief, which are inappropriate for a slave's memorial (if the slave is regarded as the diner), suggest that this sculpture was bought "off the peg" (Simmonds et al. [supra n. 26] 117)
69. Cf. G. W. Adams and R. Tobler, Romano-British tombstones between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD: epigraphy, gender and familial relations (Oxford 2007) 49, on other banquet reliefs in Britain
70. For these developments see M. Roxan, "Women on the frontiers," in V. A. Maxfield and M. J. Dobson, Roman frontier studies 1989. Proc. XVth Int. Congress of Roman Frontier Studies (Exeter 1991) 462-67
71. L. Allason-Jones, Women in Roman Britain (2nd edn., York 2005) 51-58; Speidel 1994 (supra n.68) 134-36, with statistics from across the empire
72. See M. Mattern, CSIR Deutschland II.13. Römische Steindenkmäler aus Hessen südlich des Mains ... (Mainz 2005) 104-5 no. 159, Taf. 54
73. CSIR Deutschland 105-6 no. 160, Taf. 55. Note also Noelke (supra n.15) 137-38, where these stones offer an example of local production and variability of iconography and quality in Germania Superior. Despite their generally conventional design, Giriso's stone has an unusual and obscure dedication to the Spartan hero Otrihyades (i.e., Othryades) on its left side, with figures of Mars and Victoria left and right, which emphasize the broadly military context for these civilian memorials
74. See Dunbabin (supra n.4) 114-20; M. B. Roller, Dining posture in ancient Rome (Princeton 2006) 123-39 (on funerary reliefs) and 175-79
75. Cf. Roller Dining posture in ancient Rome ibid. 169-75 for discussion of reclining children. There is in fact no good reason to suppose that such banqueting was a part of these people's lives. For discussion of the relation between conventional image and reality, see, e.g., Noelke 2005 (supra n.11) 211-12